Searching Algorithms

Techniques for finding a specific element within a collection of data.

Operations & Variations

Linear Search

Easy

Scan every element sequentially to locate the target element.

Visualize Operation

Binary Search

Medium

Locate an element in a sorted array by repeatedly dividing the search space in half.

Visualize Operation

Core Concepts

Searching retrieves target elements. Linear Search examines each element sequentially in O(N) time (works on any data). Binary Search is an optimized divide-and-conquer search taking O(log N) time, but strictly requires the data to be sorted beforehand.